iced coffee and tequila

vietnamese iced coffee. april 23, 2009.

i have a couple of friends who are yearning for "iced coffee" weather. and while i, too, am wondering where the hell spring is (but steadfastly refusing to pull out my winter coat again), i almost never drink iced coffee, certainly not in the morning. oh, i like it fine enough, but it's too easy to drink. and really, it has to be consumed pretty quickly lest it get depressingly watered down, like a yoo-hoo.

but vietnamese iced coffee stands apart from this phenomenon. the first few sips are shocking--it is so wonderfully, toxically thick with sweet condensed milk and that too-roasted coffee bean flavor--try to drink it too quickly, and it will send you reeling. at the very least, it could ruin your interest the meal that awaits you. you have to sip it throughout the meal, let the ice mellow it out. it seems never to get too sadly diluted.

and it knows no season. yesterday, my friend/boss for a freelance project took us out for a sort of celebratory lunch, and even though i was under-dressed for the weather (cold, cold hands!) and (probably) over-caffeinated, i ordered a vietnamese iced coffee without a second thought. i knew every leisurely sip would hit the spot.

***
do we think it wise to agree to have one's hair cut by a woman named tequila?

i'm about to find out.

enjoy the afternoon.